20251223 WONDER AND CONTEMPLATION AT THE INCARNATION OF OUR LORD
23 December 2025, Tuesday, 4th Week of Advent
First reading |
Malachi 3:1-4,23-24 |
Before my day comes, I will send you Elijah my prophet
The Lord God says this: Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me. And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple; and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali. He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made. The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be welcomed by the Lord as in former days, as in the years of old.
Know that I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before my day comes, that great and terrible day. He shall turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the hearts of children towards their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 24(25):4-5,8-9,10,14 |
Stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my saviour.
Stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
The Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who stray,
He guides the humble in the right path,
He teaches his way to the poor.
Stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
His ways are faithfulness and love
for those who keep his covenant and law.
The Lord’s friendship is for those who revere him;
to them he reveals his covenant.
Stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
Gospel Acclamation |
Alleluia, alleluia!
King of the peoples
and cornerstone of the Church,
come and save man,
whom you made from the dust of the earth.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 1:57-66 |
'His name is John'
The time came for Elizabeth to have her child, and she gave birth to a son; and when her neighbours and relations heard that the Lord had shown her so great a kindness, they shared her joy.
Now on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother spoke up. ‘No,’ she said ‘he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘But no one in your family has that name’, and made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called. The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And they were all astonished. At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God. All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea. All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. ‘What will this child turn out to be?’ they wondered. And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.
WONDER AND CONTEMPLATION AT THE INCARNATION OF OUR LORD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Mal 3:1-4,23-24; Luke 1:57-66]
Advent is a season of hope. As we approach the Nativity of our Lord, we are invited to wonder and contemplate the hope that we have. Indeed, hope is sustained when we contemplate with wonder the way God works and intervenes in human history. We are filled with admiration and gratitude as we see how God continues to write straight with crooked lines. In spite of humanity’s infidelity and ingratitude toward God’s grace and mercy, God never fails to intervene at the appropriate time to rescue humanity from self-destruction. More than that, God intervenes in surprising ways beyond human understanding. As St Paul exclaims, “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom 11:33)
In the first reading, through the prophet Malachi, God assures His people that He will enter the Temple once again. He says, “Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me. And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple; and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming.” Indeed, the Lord will take possession of the Temple, and He will once again accept the worship of His people–a worship that is pure and holy. “The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be welcomed by the Lord as in former days, as in the days of old.” Once again, Israel will offer pure and true worship to the Lord. This, of course, will come only with the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the perfect High Priest of our faith.
In the story of the Samaritan woman, the Lord says to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.” (Jn 4:21-23).
What is necessary, therefore, is that we purify ourselves so that we can offer true worship to the Lord. We cannot face the Lord or be admitted into His presence unless we purify our minds and hearts to welcome Him. As we approach Christmas, we need to ask ourselves whether we are ready to welcome Christ our Lord and Saviour into our lives. The truth is that many of the Israelites were merely nominal believers. Although they claimed to worship God, their hearts were not with Him. Although they fulfilled their obligations by celebrating rituals and feast days, God was not the centre of their lives. They offered leftovers and mere tokens of love to the Lord, whether in tithing or in their time and service. They were not living lives of righteousness. This is true of many believers today as well. God has become just one item on a long list of daily activities.
What is required is more than casual repentance or merely going for devotional confession. What is required is a change of heart. We need to be purified and sanctified. Malachi speaks of this process as that of a refiner’s fire: “Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For his is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali. He will take his seatas the refiner and the purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made.” Yet no one can make himself worthy before God. As St Paul reminds us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Eph 2:8-10)
It is Christ who purifies us. He is the messenger of the Lord who suddenly enters the Temple of the Lord. Jesus, who is both Lord and man, reconciles us with His Father. Christ, as the Word of God, is the One sent by the Father to purify us of our sins and make us acceptable to God. St Paul later writes, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendour, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind – yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish.” (Eph 5:25-27) Indeed, the purification of our sins requires more than mere animal sacrifices alone but the blood of His Son. “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘See, God, I have come to do your will, O God'” (Heb 10:4-7; cf Heb 9:13f)
And this is what John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord, was called to do. His mission was to prepare us to receive the Saviour. Just as the work of Christ is to purify, sanctify, and reconcile us with the Father, the work of John the Baptist is to prepare us to accept Christ when He comes. Hence, when John was born, he was rightly given the name “the gift of God” as the angel commanded. His name was confirmed by his father who “asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John’. And they were all astonished. At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God.” And rightly so, the people said, “All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea. All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. ‘What will this child turn out to be?’ they wondered.”
Truly, if we had been present at the birth of John the Baptist, we too would have marvelled and wondered at the ways of God in our lives. How could God make it possible for a couple of advanced age to bear a child? How remarkable that God would open the ears and mouth of Zechariah when he affirmed the angel’s command that the child would be called “John.” He was indeed a gift of God to the people of Israel. Truly, God is great and wonderful in His ways. Like the neighbours and relatives of Elizabeth, we too rejoice with her at the birth of her son, for “the Lord had shown her so great a kindness.”
However, we are all gifts of the Lord as well. We too are called to be messengers, following in the footsteps of our Lord, John the Baptist, and the prophet Malachi. The first messenger in Malachi refers to the prophet Elijah, a role ultimately fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptist. The second messenger is both the Lord Himself and the one in whom God delights–namely, Jesus Christ. God desires to use us in surprising ways, making us messengers of peace, love, and hope to others. We must make ourselves available to the Lord, just as Jesus, John the Baptist, and Malachi did. Surrendering ourselves to Him and allowing His Spirit to work in our lives is what enables us to become true messengers, especially to those who are forlorn, hopeless, or feeling useless. This is what the Gospel meant when it said of John the Baptist, “And indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.” God’s hand is with us too, for He wants us to help others come to know Him and to offer true worship.
So too, let us ask ourselves how we can prepare to welcome the Lord if not by reaching out to others. We must consider, as the prophet challenged us, “Who will be able to resist the day of his coming?” Are we ready to welcome Him? This is why we need to be reconciled with the Lord and spend time in wonder and contemplation over the blessings He has given us, reflecting on how we can use them to bless others, just as John the Baptist and Christ have blessed us. We need to purify our hearts and open them to His love and mercy, and also to the hearts of our brothers and sisters who cry out for understanding, support, friendship, and love. Through our kindness and mercy, we can offer a glimpse of hope to those who feel that God is distant, indifferent, or even absent. Let us allow God to work through us as He did in John. Let us be the rising star, “to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk 1:78-79). Indeed, we can echo the psalmist and say, “Stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.”
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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